Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment.
He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.

Montreal Police Arrest Woman Over Instagram Photo

April 4, 2013

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Despite their guns, badges, batons, Tasers, handcuffs and pepper spray canisters, police continue to prove they are terrified of free expression – this time going as far as arresting a woman over an Instagram photo that sent shivers down the spine of a panic-stricken police commander in Canada.

Jennifer Pawluck, a bespectacled 20-year-old artist, said she had no idea who Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafreniere was when she photographed a graffiti portrait of him with a bullet in his head in her neighborhood last month, nor did she know who drew the portrait.

But she posted it on Instagram for the benefit of her anti-cop friends because it also included the acronym ACAB, which stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”

Lafreniere, who is also the department’s spokesman and is frequently seen on television accompanied by packs of well-armed police officers, came across the image and ordered her arrested because it caused him to fear for his safety.

Police banged on her door Wednesday morning and transported her down to the station where she was detained for four hours.

The police arrived at her home Wednesday morning with a warrant accusing her of uttering threats to the well-known spokesman for the City of Montreal Police Department (SPVM). She was brought to the police station and detained for nearly four hours, she said. The SPVM had not returned calls from Huffington Post Québec at the time of publication.

The arrest warrant alleges that Pawluck acted with intent to harass Lafreniere and gave him reason to fear for his safety.

While she awaits her trial date, Pawluck must not come within one kilometre of SPVM headquarters or Lafreniere’s home.